Do cloud migrations fail? Yes, they do, if you make one or more of these mistakes!

1. There is a mismatch between your need and the cloud/cloud services provider

The cloud can mean many things to many organizations. IaaS, PaaS, SaaS or the more modern as-a-service offerings of the cloud - which one is best for the specific needs of your organization?

Moreover, different cloud vendors have different kinds of service offerings. Each one offers a different type of package, has different pricing ranges, different types of tools and so on. Picking the right cloud and the right cloud service offering is, therefore, a crucial part of ensuring that your cloud migration is a success.

        2. The organization isn’t ready for the digital transformation

Cloud adoption is nothing short of transformative. Therefore, you will need to be prepared for it to bring with it changes - to your processes, operations, workflows and more. Keep your organization’s main business objective front and center of your cloud migration process and define the specific changes this will bring - not only in terms of benefits.

You will no longer have as many legacy systems or on-premise infrastructure to maintain, but you will also need to account for the management of databases, application servers, etc. on the cloud. For this, you may need to hire new or train your existing IT and support staff. You will need to find out which of your applications need to be modernized, and how. You will need to consider the changes in timelines, make budgetary adjustments to optimize costs, and so on.

        3. Cloud security hasn’t been accounted for

You may have heard some people say that they have enhanced security on the cloud. You may have heard still others say that security is their biggest concern when they think about migrating to the cloud. Which one do you believe?

There are plenty of myths that surround the topic of cloud security. However, the truth is that cloud security is a shared responsibility - of the provider, the customer and all the users involved. That is why, while the cloud service provider will have security measures in place, it is also important for the organization to consider a good Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution and other cloud security solutions before executing the cloud migration.

       4. Everything is being moved at once

When it comes to cloud migration, slow and steady is the way to go! Once you have a cloud migration strategy in place, it is generally better to implement it in phases rather than all at once.

In this way, you can always monitor, review, adjust and apply lessons learned as you progress. This, in turn, leaves much less room for failure. If done right, you can carry out your cloud migration process in the most cost-effective and beneficial way possible.

       5. There is no reason for the cloud migration

Cloud migration can be a challenging task to go about, but it is often worth the effort! However, it is only worth the effort if you have analyzed and foreseen tangible benefits to be reaped. For this, you will need to define your business objectives for the next 3 years, compare the costs of achieving them - both with and without cloud migration, and learn how exactly the cloud can help you achieve the goals you have set and to what extent.

To effectively do this, it is best to work with a cloud consulting company which can help you understand the implications of cloud migration on your business in terms of efficiency and revenue.